James Jennings wrote:
> I've had teachers say to "relax" or "open the throat"
> or "pretend to yawn", but I don't get enough feedback
> to tell what is going on.
The shape of the inside of your mouth and throat, and
the position and shape of the tongue influence the
sound, so significant physical changes should be
audible, and that's important feedback.
> I should mention that "opening the throat" and "yawning"
> seem to be the opposite of "relaxing" to me. Yawning
> tenses things up.
How about the start of a yawn. Or the difference in the
interior shape of the mouth and throat between saying
an exaggerated AAAH or EEEE.
> I'm still stuck with the question, how do I learn to
> feel if my throat is properly relaxed?
Experiment, listen, and be open to discovery. Get
feedback and instruction from players you admire. I'm
not sure that relaxation is an ideal goal to start
with. I think the idea is to both remove constrictions
(to airflow and sound generation) and learn to optimize
the internal shape of the mouth and throat for whatever
notes are played. Until this becomes second nature,
there's bound to be some struggle.
John G.
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